LETTERS FROM THE FRONT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2437, 28 November 1900, Page 29

LETTERS FROM THE FRONT.

In a letter from Trooper J. Moore, of the fourth contingent, to his parents here, dated , Commissie, October)"?; the following" general items occur: — "Our column left Ottoshoop on the Bth September, under General Douglas, to act with General Methuen through the Transvaal towards' Lydenburg. • Two hours after leaving Ottoshoop we were. attacked by the Boers, who held, a position on kopje.-i ,on our" right and left flanks, also in our front. The fourth were ordered to take up, a position on" a kopje on the left flank,. and to hold it, till relieved. This we did, and things .were merry for a time, until our artillery got to work and quietened them a bit. While retiring from this position fouv or five of our men were slightly wounded. Alf Roberts was shot through the shoulder, Ernest White through the hand, Jack Diuigcy had a piece of his filler taken off, two others hove scratches from bullet?, and Sergeant Collis had his horse shot dead. TLe horse prss-ented by the , Dunedin Boating Club, and ridden by Charlie , vDuff, was shot cleon through the head, but is as right as ever again. Several of the fifth and some Australian Bushmen were wounded during the day, but none seriously. Two days after we had more fighting, when two Bushmen and a member ot the fifth were wounded by one of the enemy's pom-poms. Nothing further of interest occurred until we aa- t proached Liohtenbnrg, when all the mounted men were ordered to gallop out and secure a convoy, which could be seen three miles ahead on the veldt. We extended, and alter exchanging shots with some Boers, who made off as fast as possible, we encircled and captured the convoy, consisting of 30 bullock waggons, a large quantity of ammunition, rifles, etc., together with 30 prisoners. While \ capturing this convoy an . Australian officer and a corporal were shot dead. It happened j in this way : Tne two gave chafe to two Boers ' who had fled from the convoy on our approach, and, after racing for half a mile, the I Boers reached a kopje, halted, threw down their rifles, and" hoisted a white flag. The officer and his corporal rode, forward to arrest their prisoners, and when about 50 yards off were shot down by other Boers in hiding, andthen, the batch made -off. From this we proceeded about 50 miles beyond Lichtenburg, and camped for a week- at a place cabled' Barberspan. Here we had a big -sports meeting, jthe proceedings being enlivened by a band of the Imperial troops, the affair turning out a great success. Time will scarcely permit of my going into particulars of the meeting, yet the mile race is worth mentioning. Seventy-three animals lined up at the starting-post, and at the word ' Go ' you should have seen the fun. The mules stampeded in every direction ; collisions, spills, and hairbreadth escapes were only a few of the features which contributed to the excitement of the spectators. I had a mount, of course. The event was won by an Australian Bushman, followed closely by a compaion, Steve Cairns (of my section) coming third. We all rode j bare-backed. The day after the sports our squadron (A squad) piloted 100 head of commarideered cattle to Kraipan, about 35 miles from our camp and five from Mafeking. Here was fired the first shot of the Boer war. Leaving camp at midnight, our guide lost his way, and not till after midday did we reach our destination, being 13 hours in the saddle. An hour's rest and then our return journey began. In rounding up one of the cattle my pony had the misfortune to put his foot into a hole, resulting in his turning a complete somersault over me. I came out all right, but not so my rifle, which was almost bent double under the pony. We left Barberspan for Rust'enburg the next day, and after an uneventful march reached Commissie Drift, about a mile from Oliphant's Nek, where seven British columns had surrounded De Wet, but he managed to elude them. It was given out in camp that our probable destination would be Pretoria, .but it, is now rumoured we are to return to Mafeking, from there to the Cape, then home. Our tucker lately has not been the best; be- j sides, we are on half -rations. Meat we have

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had a fair share of, however, thanks to success attending the commandeering of cattle and sheep, to say nothing of the private business in the line of poultry. lam still in excellent i health, and as fit as a fiddle." I The following letter Trom Lieut. Tubman, of the fourth contingent, dated Leeuwpan, September 24, has been received by Mr M'Phee, of the George street school: — i I We have been in camp here now for about a week awaiting the arrival of a convoy from the border with rations and forage. I don't suppose you .will find the place on the map, but it is midway between Lichtenburg and Yryhers. One day we set off on a mile a minute racket to relieve sceie 500 poor beggars who were shut up at - Schweizer Renneke, but when we reached there we met Lord Methuen' s column. He took all the supplies he could get around us, and off he went, we having to slay behind. The fact was that the Boers skipped the day Methuen left us, and are now half-way to Klerksdorp. The part of the country we are in is a kind of Hades without even the infernal Styx to keep the dust down — i.e., very little water. At the last camp we were in the' water absolutely stank like — well, perhaps the Kaikorai Stream ; besides, it was aa salt as the Dead Sea, or thereabouts, so you mayguess our social and personal conditions. I haan t had a wash for three days, and the, worst of it is I don't begin to care the legend* ary Danish' coin whether I have one or not. Enviro'nment'beainning to play up, I suppose, as vith the kcas and sheep in New Zealand j but to-day, finding the addition to my weight becoming too great, plus the two stone I have put on over here, I gave a nigger 2d 6cl tor a bucketful of clean water to remove the mealie patches off my skin. We have been" here six days, and every day there has been a terrific duststorm from sunrise to sunset. I can't describe thejr. — they are ever so much worse fian the worst nor'-wester that ever blows in Christchurch, and the heat is many degrees higher. We feel them keenly, a~s we are simply doing nothing except living on the very shortest of rations. I don't know how other men get on, but I have always a '"iwivate supply' in my squadron waggon, so I faro pretty well.' There is s>omo grumbling; on this score because the staff are sleek and sn«i?. and don't care how the men live at all. That sort of thing may do for the much-disciplined Tommy, but not for our men, who have been used to something better. Tt is dead winter to-day lor a drop of whisky — the first time since wo came to Africa. Ran out yesferday and don't know where the ue\-t will come from. The Beers looted the Lichtenburg pub. and stores, but I spotted a likely -looking Dutchman, and i managed to screw a bottle out of him for "not j ver mooch geidt — twelf undt seexbenre." I I was glad to get it at the price. You haveno idea what a stand-by it is out here, where the water is bat!. ' ' After we left Ottoshoop we got among the' enemy, and, have fought three engagements since that. lam thankful to say I have not been scratched, although at times the bullets' fairly poured among us, and tore tip the ground all round. I have had comn»and of the company since we left, and have done pv.otty well — at least in my own estimation, which, of course, may not be up to much ; but I haven't lost a man, although that is probably my luck. The Boers are hog? tb fight. They play their own game to perfection, and set all manner of traps for us, but we are as cunning as they are. and, so far, have not fallen in. We have had a fair share, in conjunction with Methuen,' in breaking them up out in this pare. He captured a 15-potmder the other day that the Boers had captured at Coleiiso, also 28 waggons, and, in fact, the whole of their trans- ■ port. | Wo have scattered them, all right for the present, but the trouble is when we bring in the Boer prisoners they are almost invariably sent home a?ain afler they have taken the oath of neutrality. At Manaua over 100 prisoners (farmer? and others) were brought in, and only 39 were heid. The style of questioning was thus : — i General : " Have you ever carried arms , again=t xis? " Boer: "No." General: "Where were you going when yo~a were caught with arms? " Boer: "Out shooting buck." General: " Sure that you were? " Prisoner : " Yes." And he gets his card of neutrality. Another, in answer to the General, said he was going to a cattle sale. He was believed, ] and sent away. Can you wonder why we take I so long to settle them up after such nonsense? To my knowledge two men who had fired on the Bushmen were captured and acquitted. Look here, old man, you will never hear of my squadron bringing in prisoners. We will give them short shrift if we catch them playing the double, bulking game with us. I ' know if we let them, off we will have them sniping at us in a very short time. When we . come to a Boer farm we have to pay through the nose for fowls and bread, etc. ; but when the Boei'S come to one of our stores or upon an English farm they loot everything. I felt inclined to shoot a skulker the other day, if an English officer hadn't been about. It was like this: The column had moved out, or, rather, was moving out, and my squadron was the rearguard. We saw the Boers away in our rear watching us, and up came a discharged Boer prisoner, coming through our outposts in the direction of the enemy. I stopped him until we w.ere ready to move on, which was not till an hour afterwards. Now, I don't reckon I am much of a soldier, but I reckon I know how to deal with such cases. Here was a prisoner, discharged, and allowed • to go through our outposts at 6 a.m. in the direction of the enemy. I couldn't stand it, so I had him arrested again, and put a guard over him. He squealed like blazes about my treatment. -"You infernal skulker," I said, "I'd stop your confounded impertinence with shot for the pleasure of shooting you." j You can form but a very poor idea in New Zealand of the cunning and brass of these fellows. That is the way things are done here. This war is not conducted on business principles. I could write you pages of this sort of thing ; but it can do no good. I will give you it all some day. However, I think that the Boers are now about full up. They have very little ammunition left, and none for their big guns, and they are short of tucker, too, except when they steal. I have just got word this moment that we are to set off at once to Rustenburg, so I must close. It is a long march, I think, but all things have an end. No letters from you yet. I must now take a stroll round the" horses, so I must wind up. I think it will be a long time- before we are back in New Zealand. This war will take a long time to completely fizzle out — at least, I think so, — i but we do not hear a word of what is going i| on in other parts. This life stiits me, and I I am thankful that I am in first-rat© health.

Sergt-major L. Maclean, of the fifth con- ' tingent, in a letter to his parents, mentions that he has been promoted to be sergt.-major. Trooper Maclean received his first military training from the late Mr Ferguson at the Albany street School. He became a member of B Battery, and gained the posi- • tion of corporal. He was also a member of the local fire brigade. Mr Charles Moreton; of this city, has placed at our disposal a letter received from his I brother, Trooper Thomas J. Moreton, of the ! fourth contingent. Writing from Oliphant's Nek on October 6, Trooper Moreton says: — " It is a month since we left Ottoshoop, and we have been sniped at almost continuously, being fired at every day since. We left Ottoshoop before daylight, and had not gone far when we were engaged till about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. We gave the enemy an awful doing, flanking them right and left. Then the lyddite and shrapnel were set to work, when the Boers were knocked over like ninepins, 23 being killed with one shot. We captured all their transports, consisting of about 20 waggons and 30,000 rounds of ammunition, in addition to 40 prisoners. We had a few casualties, but the wounds were only slight. The Boers did pour it into us at a distance of 900 yards, but we had only three horses shot, notwithstanding that we were only going at a walking £>ace. The pompoms got to -work then and drove all the Boers 'into 'a heap. I saw one lyddite shell burst amongst about a dozen feoers and | horses, but only saw one ride away. The : country we have come through is splendid, and both" the "crops and the grass are looking well, while the orchards are full of all kinds j of fruit trees. We have commandeered about 4000 head of cattle, besides a large number of sheep. Wo are scouring the country | all round under Generals Methuen and Douglas, buL are alway? in touch with one another. De la Rey, whom we are after,' has pome splendid farms. We were ordered out yesterday to report on anything we saw. We reported plenty of cattle aboiit, and received orders to round them up, which we soon did. We drove them till we came to an English farmer, who had been fighting against us, but who said he had given up his arms. About a dozen of us were talking to him in front j of «is house, when we heard a warning shot -fired. The farmer and his son moved ay.ay from its, and immediately the Boers fired on ua, the buJlets whistling past and knocking up the dust. We rode back and informed the captain who was in charge. We went i back and took all the farmer's cattle, whereas if we had not been fired on he would not have lost- any. On the 4th of this month we were out tcouting, when we found a house supposed to bo deserted, but the Boers had been there ovcr-nighl. However, we soon drove them away. When we had all gone the Otago portion of the fifth contingent came along, and Will Adams, of Owaka, received a flesh wound in the tKigh, while the enemy also shot a horse. We are having a few days' spell here, but I don't know where we will go next." Trooper J. Taylor, of Winton, Southland, a member of the fifth contingent, who was ■founded and sent to the Kimberley Hospital, writes to his mother, under date September 26, stating that he is still in that town," where he was afraid he would have to remain until the New Zealanders were .pent home, it was generally rumoured they would be on October 19. " Two of his section were in the hospital with him — namely, A. Goodman and E. Lear. The "latter was wounded on the same day as Taylor, the bullet — a soft-nosed one — going j in at one side of his hip and coming out on the other side. Lear made excellent progress, ! and was to leave the hospital on the day the letter was written. Kimberley was the first place which Taylor had come across in South Africa, where anything was to be ptirchased at anything like a reasonable price. The Timaru Post states that Trooper W. Geddes, of Orari C4orge, a member of the fifth contingent, has received a commission in the Buffs (Indian regiment), with a chance of a change to a cavalry regiment in India. Mrs Brown, of Waitepeka, has received a letter from her son. Trooper Brown, of the Queensland Bushmen, who was wounded at ! Elands River, stating that he has quite re- j covered. He nientions that when he was j wounded Lieutenant Annat went through the j firing line to' .< see him, and, to oheer the men, remarked: *' They can't kill you, Jack." Next night the brave, kind-hearted lieutenant was himself killed by a shell. News from South Africa narrates that while a patrol^if Steinacker's Horse, 40 strong, with a Maxim, were camped near the Zard River, north of the Sabi, lately, they lost a white man, a native, and a horse by lions. The wjiits man. named Sam Smart, was carreid off' from- amidst the^eircle of camp" fires, while on guard, by a well-known old He was recovered alive, but so badly mauled that he died on the following day. A G-reymouth telegram states that the Premier has received a cable from Colonel"' Newall, at Klerksdorp, South Africa, stating that the fourth and fifth contingents are all well.